No One Expected The Spanish Influenza

From 1918 till 1920, about 75 million people died on the flu. The epidemic was a global one but the disease was known by a regional moniker, the Spanish flu. It didn’t start there nor was Spain hit particularly harder than any other nation, so why did it get the name?

The reason was World War 1. The combatants in WWI didn't report on how badly the flu had hit their nations. Not wanting their enemies to know how sick they were nor did they want their own people, they instead censored the reports. Spain neutral in the conflict had no reason to hide the truth, so it looked as if it was being hit harder than the rest. So it became known as “Spanish Flu”.

Often times those that are authentic in their behavior are relegated as oddballs. For example, those that confess their sin are looked down on when in truth there are many of those setting in silent judgment there that have the same if not worse sins. People that admit to faults are seen as weak when in truth that openness to one's errors make them stronger as they to fix their problems rather than just ignore them. People that act as if they have it all together are often just good at hiding all the holes in their lives.

Christians are called to live open lives (James 5:16, I John 1:9, Matthew 5:16). This might open the door for some to criticize us. However, that should not make us think the problem is us. Remember most of the time people are accusing you of something or besmirching your actions, it usually more a reflection of them than you.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

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